Emergency Post! Kat Von D Light 42 Back in Stock!

Hello lovelies! I know I haven't been around for a while and I promise to explain that a bit soon (and come back with some posts. I know you want to see some Charlotte Tilbury eye quads and Tom Ford lipstick - amazing stuff) but this emergency post is brought to you by:

As you might know from last year's foundation hunt - this is the pale foundation unicorn for me: full coverage, long-lasting, neutral.

Go forth and purchase! 

Urban Decay Electric Palette Review

This is overdue, so I'm postponing my Palette Parade check-in to tomorrow.

After so many years of Naked, we have all been looking forward to Urban Decay getting back to their brightly colored, grittier roots and giving us some color. As soon as this was announced (or leaked, depending on how you look at it,) people were itching to get their hands on it. I picked it up as part of Sephora's Chic Week early access and jumped it in line in the aforementioned Palette Parade. 

Urban Decay is calling this one a pressed pigment palette. To be honest, I can't tell if that's to excuse the chalky quality of the red and pink shades or because of the FDA warning those same shades carry. FDA Warning?! Nothing too alarming - several red dyes and pigments that are approved in other countries are not yet approved for use in the United States. The warning reads, “Warning: Slowburn, Savage, Jilted, and Urban are not intended for the immediate eye area.” For most people, it shouldn't be a problem. If you've ever had an allergic reaction to red or pink dyes or cosmetics, you might want to skip this one. The risk here is irritation, nothing more. 

Let's talk about the packaging a little bit. I'm not excited about the space consuming round pan palette. I'm also not excited about the plastic packaging - I much prefer either metal or cardboard packing. Even Too Faced seems to be moving to metal palettes, so this one feels a little cheap in-hand. However, if you look at that third picture again, you'll see something you don't see with the Naked palettes - the mirror stays at the angle you place it at - you can actually use it without holding the palette or trying to hover over a flat surface and get decent lighting.

The included brush is nearly identical to the ones included with the Naked palettes. Honestly, I wish they'd include eyeliner instead of brushes, since the brushes are not anything I'd want to get stuck using.

Swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion, indoors with "true-white" lighting

Left to Right: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage, Fringe, Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak, Thrash

These are really hit and miss and I hope they offer some of these shades individually. 

Revolt (Urban Decay says: bright metallic silver shimmer w/silver glitter) isn't really all that dense or bright. It seems to look most like a silver glitter. It does wonderfully over a silver cream base and can make a white base sparkle but can't really stand alone as anything but a glitter.

Gonzo (Urban Decay says: bright turquoise matte w/ floating tonal pearl), really flails with texture. The mattes, in general, in this palette seem to be chalky. Urban Decay described them as 'velvety' - so I was expecting something at least closer to Sugarpill's super-bright mattes. 

Slowburn (Urban Decay says: bright red-orange matte w/floating pearl) continues the matte problems. If you have Sugarpill's Love+, you can skip this one, it's not as orange as they would have you believe.

Savage (Urban Decay says: bright hot pink matte), was one that I was really looking forward to and have been struggling to use. It's chalky. It doesn't like to blend. It doesn't like to apply evenly - it's the worst of pigments (I usually buy loose) and pressed shadows (hard to get just a little bit to work with.) I'm very disappointed.

Fringe (Urban Decay says: bright metallic teal), is one of the stand-outs of this palette. It's beautiful, it's smooth, it looks metallic without looking glittery. This is an incredible color and I really hope they offer it as a stand-alone.

Chaos (Urban Decay says: bright blue matte w/floating tonal pearl), back on the matte fail wagon. I have Sugarpill's Royal Sugar and this doesn't hold a candle to it with regard to ease of use, smooth application, and blending ability. 

Jilted (Urban Decay says: bright metallic fuchsia w/blue shift) - photos do not do the blue shift justice. This is absolutely stunning and I hope I can buy this in single pans sometime soon.

Urban (Urban Decay says: bright metallic purple), seems like it has a blue shift as well. Another stunning metallic and I'm glad we finally have a namesake color for the line - I've wanted cosmetics the color of that purple tissue paper they put in your orders since it started appearing. 

Freak (Urban Decay says: bright green w/gold shift) has no gold shift that I can see but that doesn't prevent this from being amazing. I've used it as an inner corner highlight and as a lid shade and it really pops no matter where you put it. This has made best friends with my pencil brush. 

Thrash (Urban Decay says: bright lime green matte w/floating gold pearl) looks a little sickly on my skin, I'm sorry to say. I think this is the shade I'll struggle the most to use. It has some of the texture probelms of the other mattes and, again, I don't see the gold pearl. 

Swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion, outdoors

Left to Right: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage, Fringe, Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak, Thrash

I feel like you can see the texture issues in the sunlight better. We've had a lot of sun in Seattle over the last several days and I was hoping to get a more indirect sunlight photo but I had zero weather cooperation. My neighbors aren't complaining - they've all dragged out the grills. 

As you can see in the sunlight photo, the metallics are smooth, opaque, and gorgeous. The mattes are spotty and uneven. Some of that can be attributed to these being pigments without a smoothing base but I feel like both MAC and Sugarpill have provided us with loose matte pigments that behave a lot better. Revolt really is a nice glitter but nothing more, which I find disappointing. 

All of that said? I really feel like Freak, Urban, Jilted, and Fringe save this palette from the returns pile. These shades are brilliant (as in color,) smooth, and fairly unique. The red shades have been reported by a few bloggers and vloggers to cause staining - I experienced this on my fingertips when I swatched them directly but with a layer of Primer Potion, I haven't had any trouble with it otherwise. 

Let's get real for a second about that pigments bit - I really don't see your average person using these for much other than eyeshadows. The shades don't lend themselves well to other daily-wear uses. Urban Decay claims you can use them as temporary hair color, which while technically true seems like it would be difficult with the palette in the way. Pressed pigments are harder to use as eyeliners or mixing colors. I really think Urban Decay should have thought more about their average customer when they put this one together; we've been waiting a long time for Urban Decay to come back from Naked and pack a punch that reminded us of the "Does pink make you puke?" campaign they launched with. It's a lot to live up to, sure, but I think they could have delivered with an all-metallic palette, given the metallic shades presented here.

Is this palette worth picking up? I'm happy with my purchase. If you are thinking about purchasing, I'd visit an Ulta, Sephora, Macy's to swatch it or pick it up directly from Urban Decay so you can return hassle-free - it is pretty hit-or-miss, so I feel like it doesn't quite deserve a full recommendation. It's a permanent addition to Urban Decay's collection, so I would probably wait for a sale, coupon, or other deal. At $49, each of the pans works out to $4.90 - even the less amazing shades are worth that. If you break the price down to just the pans I feel like are something you can't get anywhere else, they're still $12.25 each. A respectable price point for decent-quality pigments or shadows. With Sephora's Chic Week sale, I paid $41.65 for this palette ($3.47 per pan.) Otherwise, this palette is $49 at beauty.com, Sephora, Ulta, Macy's, and UrbanDecay.com.

Tomorrow I'll post up my Palette Parade check-in with looks from this palette. If folks are interested, I'd be happy to do comparison swatches with Sugarpill shades I have on-hand. 

Nail of the Week: Zoya Katy

This week I decided to go with a more pronounced accent nail - Zoya's Katy with butter LONDON's Black Knight. The photos can't really do justice to the color combination but the photos do show the thing I like least about Black Knight.

In natural light

Katy really brings out the colored glitter in Black Knight but the texture of Black Knight is really distracting, especially in a shade that's not matte. It looks like eggshell paint or poor application technique  and it's really bothering me. It's a shame because I do like the glitter in this better than Zoya's Storm.

Indoors

Katy's blue-based pink is perfect for the Electric palette from Urban Decay - swatches and review on that tomorrow! 

Smashbox Full Exposure - Review and Palette Parade Check-In

What's a palette parade? See this post.

Smashbox Full Exposure palette ($49 at Sephora, Ulta, Beauty.com, Nordstrom, and Smashbox.) 

For the past week, I've been using the Smashbox Full Exposure palette. You might have seen the black shadow from this palette in last week's black shadow round-up. 

The packaging is pretty good - I love the rainbow lettering on the front and the magnetic closure palette is pretty standard these days. Nothing over the top or special but it feels substantial enough to protect the shadows inside. Sorry to say, I neglected to take a photo of the palette open. Like so many others, this palette has a mirror inside but no way to prop the lid so that you can actually use it. I'd really like to meet the person that applies shadows from a 14-pan palette holding the palette or with it flat on a table somewhere. The included brush is decent quality, natural hair on one end, duo natural/synthetic on the other; I'd say more actually versatile and usable than the brushes that come with any other palette.

I swatched from left to right, top row and then second row. These shadows don't seem to have names, they're referred to by Smashbox as Shimmer 1 through 7 and Matte 1 through 7. 

Smashbox Full Exposure swatches

I'm sure you've already spotted the main problem with this palette. The shimmer shades suffer from major fallout and wash out to a very similar color in all but the darkest shades. The mattes, however, do not suffer from this problem. In fact, I think this palette is worth purchasing just for the mattes, if you're looking for matte neutrals. However, I have the Naked Basics palette along with Urban Decay's Buck, Laced, Tease, Secret Service - I'm well-served in the neutral matte department.

Even worse than that, though, was what happened when I applied these without the shimmer shades sticking around:

So similar. Still fighting with the eyebrows.

No matter what application method, tools, or look I used, they just kind of washed out to being the same. I don't have this trouble with Urban Decay's Naked Basics, which only has six shades. It's disappointing, at least to me, to spend between ten and twenty minutes standing in front of your mirror to walk away looking like you did the day you spent five minutes on a look.

Overall, I'd say this one is a pass unless you're really looking for basic mattes that will give you a consistent look day to day. Honestly, I think that may be part of the design, as the packaging describes Smashbox's process for choosing these colors - colors that can be used to create a "natural" look on a variety of skin tones for makeup pros. Certainly, you can choose the shades that work best for your skin and eye colors and have a standard look that's easy to pull together quickly - but don't expect versatility out of this one - but it seems an awful shame to buy fourteen pans of product to only use three or four.

This is why you didn't get full-face at all - my glasses were uncooperative this week.
F-Bomb is still awesome, though.

Coming up this week I have swatches from Urban Decay's Electric Palette (oh, come on, you knew I'd buy it) and a short review for the Paw Palette I recently purchased.

Sunblocks and Suncare Products I Use

When I posted a few weeks ago about sunscreens, sunblocks, and sun safety a few people reached out to me to ask for recommendations on suncare products and what I used. Additionally, the lovely folks at Goddess Garden contacted me to see if I would like to review one of their products (little did they know that I had a small army of their products already lurking in my home. They're my preferred sunblock brand!)

The regular use pile from my vanity. That trigger-spray Goddess Garden sunblock is the one they sent for review; you can tell it's new to the family because it doesn't have a yellow expiration date sticker dot on it yet. The poor Mustela is lingering for another few months from winter, so its sticker is on the back.

Small reviews, explanations, and general rambling after the jump:

Nails of the Week: Butter London and Deborah Lippmann

This week's nail of the week is more like a nail-of-the-three-days. The Butter London polishes I picked up are all very pretty and come in colors that Zoya doesn't have but are only lasting about three days on me, no matter what  do. So this week, I have two manicures to share this week.

First up: Butter London's Fairy Lights with the accent nail having a two-coat topper of Knackered

Butter London Fairy Lights and Knackered

Butter London describes Fairy Lights as a "rose gold" - but much like Urban Decay's Naked 3 palette, I'm not seeing the gold qualities. The rosy pink is too cool-toned to be "rose gold," in my opinion, but that's certainly not a complaint! It is on last orders at Butter London's own website but Nordstrom and Beauty.com have it in regular stock still. Knackered on its own is kind of a sheer metallic blue with a bit of sparkle, which made for a nice lavender here that worked well with Fairy Lights. 

On Monday that was so ragged that it really needed to be redone so of course I waited an extra day to do anything about it. That brought me to Deborah Lippman's Private Dancer, which Beauty.com is currently doing as a gift-with-beauty purchase (ending 4/4 - go! They're stackable, too, so get as many as you can!) For the accent, I settled on Zoya's Mimi

"Outdoors" natural light

Indoors, no flash

I feel like the chrome on this one isn't very, well, chromed. It's a very pretty color and seems to ride the line between duochrome and just chrome. We'll see how it wears! 

Black Shadow Showdown Redux

You might remember my disappointment that Sugarpill's Bulletproof didn't live up to the hype or Urban Decay's Blackout. A generous friend sent me Makeup Geek's Corrupt because she was pretty sure it could slay the competition.

Of course, between now and then, I've managed to obtain a few other black shadows. Who doesn't need more black shadow? Before I move on to the swatches, I wanted to say that I bought two pans of MAC's Carbon, certain that I had a defective one. Both pans swatch exactly the same and the MAC counter rep I spoke to told me that "you don't actually want a shadow that black, because it wouldn't blend well!" I disagree, clearly, and so do many other cosmetics companies, apparently.

On to the main event:

My ten black shadows, in natural light

1. Sephora Collection No 54 Black Lace 2. Kat Von D Lucifer from Sinner 3. Smashbox M7 from Full Exposure 4. Sugarpill Bulletproof 5. MAC Typographic 6. MAC Carbon 7. MakeupGeek Corrupt 8. Urban Decay Blackout 9. Urban Decay Crave from Naked Basics 10. NARS Pandora II

Do you see the lengths we have to go to in Washington state to get 'natural light' photos? I'm hanging my shadow-covered arm out of my kitchen window for this. I think the MAC shadows are the most disappointing here - Typographic (5) and Carbon (6) are practically the same color and neither are what I would call black - they're clearly gray shadows.  I was a little surprised by (3) Smashbox M7 from the Full Exposure palette. That palette has taken a beating on a lot of reviews I've seen as being poorly pigmented. I'm going to do a review for that palette next week but spoiler alert: buy it for the mattes.

The MakeupGeek Corrupt (7) and Blackout (8) seem to be going head-to-head. Blackout is smoother in texture and Corrupt seems to have a little glitter in it but they're both very dark, deep black shadows.

Let's look at these shadows inside, shall we?

1. Sephora Collection Black Lace 2. Kat Von D Lucifer 3. Smashbox M7 from Full Exposure 4. Sugarpill Bulletproof 5. MAC Typographic 6. MAC Carbon 7. MakeupGeek Corrupt 8. Urban Decay Blackout 9. Urban Decay Crave 10. NARS Pandora II

I feel like you can see which shadows lean brown or gray with indoor lighting a little better. I also think the difference between Typographic (5) and Carbon (6) is more clear here but I'm still not impressed.

If you're looking for a velvety-smooth true-matte black shadow, I still think Urban Decay's Blackout ($18 alone or available in the Naked 2 palette) is the best you can get - but at one-third the price, Makeup Geek's Corrupt ($6 in a naked pan, $8 in a single compact) is a serious contender, even with a little bit of shimmer.

Do you have an expiration routine?

Quick post - as I was going through and replacing my toothbrush and Clarisonic heads, I wondered: do all of you have a routine to keep track of when you should be tossing things?

For instance, on the first of each month, I switch my razor blades (even if they "don't need it,") toss anything that has reached the open-for-too-long point, and try and clean out my makeup area.

At the first of each quarter, I change toothbrush and Clarisonic heads, toss any open mascara, and sanitize anything that hasn't been taken care of (I set stuff aside to be sanitized as it is used. You know that one wash-by-hand dish that sits next to your sink? Like that.)

At the new year and half year, I check medications, sunscreen, and other expiration dates. Of course, I label everything and toss as I go if I encounter a passed expiration date but this helps me stay ahead of the panic that I suddenly don't have eye cream or one of the three types of sunscreen I keep in my cabinet.

Do you have a routine? Do you prefer a more relaxed approach?

Palette Parade Check-In: Urban Decay Neutral Custom 6-pan

Not sure what the Palette Parade is? Check out this post here.

Sorry guys, this is a fairly tame one. This week I used the Urban Decay custom 6-pan - the pan came with my favorite blending shade, Walk of Shame, and I added Virgin, Tease, Laced, Buck and Secret Service. Very matte, very basic.

How basic is this? So basic. 

I had planned to use it with some Geek Chic singles but I was rushed for time a lot this week and the loose format of the Geek Chic singles mean you really need time to put down a sticky primer like Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy - and there's not a lot of room for error once that stuff is on. (I'm going to try and do a swatch-and-review soon on Pixie Epoxy. That stuff is wonderful and a little scary with how long it lasts.)

Given that, I spent most of the week with my face looking like a variation of: 

Basic face is basic. 

Lipstick is Urban Decay's Gash, which is exclusive to their website

I really wish Naked Basics had a few more shades in it - if it was this palette, plus Crave, it would probably be my favorite thing ever. One of the very nice things about Laced is that it doubles as a blush for me and Buck can also work as a contouring shade - which makes this palette very versatile for me, as it's more than just eyeshadow shades.

Additionally, I feel like the Urban Decay single shadows are a bit overpriced at $18 each - MAC charges $10 for pans, the shadows in Urban Decay's own palettes break down to somewhere around $4 a pan. It really provides an incentive to purchase palettes where you can. That said, I like the build-your-own palettes. I wish Urban Decay had gone with a less bulky way of managing the packaging, think of how much space we could save with something more like a naked pan and it would have less plastic, less to ship, and less expense!

We had a sunshine-lite week last week but I did finally manage to get black shadow comparison swatches. Expect to see them on Wednesday!

Next week's Parade Check In: Naked 2 or Smashbox Full Exposure. I haven't decided yet. 

Nail of the Week: Butter London Petrol

After my recent post on Zoya polish being the only polish I use, a friend begged me to give Butter London another chance. Given that my application and routine have improved since the last time I gave it a try, I was considering it. Then I stopped in at Nordstrom's Beauty Trend event and they had the Backstage Basics kit just sitting there. So I picked it up with Petrol.

Butter London Petrol

I've been wearing this for three days so far and, I'm sorry to say, I've got major tip wear and what looks like a french manicure from the polish wearing away on my right hand. (I'm trying to let it go a full week so I can take photos then.) What you see above is Nail Foundation, three coats of Petrol (it's very sheer as it is intended to be used as a top coat in addition to being a stand-alone,) and a coat of Hardwear.

Petrol is very aptly named - it has the very pretty sheen of gasoline or an oil slick. No photo I could manage did it justice.

I do like the feel of both the base coat - Nail Foundation - and Hardwear, the top coat, better than Zoya's. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be doing the job as well. I wish Zoya could do something to be as quick-drying and lightweight as the Butter feels without sacrificing the quality and wear time. I do use Zoya's quick-dry drops but they leave my fingertips greasy until I'm comfortable washing my hands. Butter London's top coat dries quickly with no fuss. 

I think for the foreseeable future, I'm sticking with Zoya and will only be picking up Butter London polishes on sale in shades that Zoya doesn't have (yet.) Admittedly, Zoya is not always up on trend colors, even if they are usually on the frontlines of runway color.

Butter London polishes clock in at $15 per bottle, base and top coat at $19 a bottle - available from Ulta, Sephora, Nordstrom, many Whole Foods stores, and Butter London's website directly. 

Palette Parade Check-in: Sugarpill Heartbreaker

Hey there! Checking in with this past week's palette: Sugarpill's Heartbreaker.

Not sure what the Palette Parade is? Check out this post.

Sugarpill Heartbreaker Palette

I'm kind of a completist. I want to have all of the the options at my fingertips, if there are options to be had. I initially bought this palette with that in mind. I liked the purple (2AM) and blue (Velocity) shades in it and figured the lime green (Acidberry) and mint green (Mochi) wouldn't see much use. How wrong I was. That green shade? Is amazing as in inner corner highlight and that mint green blends like a dream.

I really enjoyed using this palette this week. Unfortunately, I spent so much time playing with it most days that I didn't have time to set up good photos for you guys - especially in the suddenly-bright and then suddenly-dark weather of Seattle's standard spring. 

Not very helpful, is it? 

I did get some decent photos on two days and I'll share those with you guys here. 

On my first day using these, I was worried that I was going to wind up with a week's worth of looks that were so similar to what I got from Sweetheart - which I very much liked but were overwhelmingly blue and intense. I think the purple in this palette is what really rounds it out and makes it capable of softer looks, if you need it to be.

 

You can kind of see the similarity to the Sweetheart look here.

(Lipstick is Urban Decay's Obsessed)

That same day, eyes open: 

Indoors, it was a very soft look, which was not the case with Sweetheart.

When you throw the green into the mix, you get something that really pops but doesn't scream that you're wearing neon shadow:

 

I think this looks completely different with and without glasses. Sorry about the brows, we're having a tussle over control of the shape. The brows are winning. The eyeliner (Sugarpill's Royal Sugar loose shadow and MAC Mixing Medium) miss is thanks to a ready-to-leave four year old. :)

See? Glasses seem to make the purple crease seem stronger. 

(Lipstick is Urban Decay's Catfight)

I'm kind of surprised to say this, but I think this may wind up being my favorite of the three matte palettes from Sugarpill. I'll have to do a showdown between this and Burning Heart at some point and see but I see lots of use in this palette's future. The mint shade as a lid color really ties together and grounds brighter purples, blues, and greens. Acidberry brings a color that can't be matches, which really helps keep the colors in this palette firmly out of 80s-theme-day territory. 2AM, the purple, is just red enough to play well with Velocity, the royalest of all blues. Like every other Sugarpill shadow I've put my hands on, these all blend amazingly and can be packed on for intense color or blended out for a soft wash. 

You can pick these up from Beautylish like I did, from Sugarpill directly, or Makeup Geek's store for $32 (shipping varies.) Shades are available in the palette or individually.

Do any of you want reviews on the Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks? The line was revamped not too long ago and a few samples wound up dragging me in - the shade range really fills the gaps that MAC seems to miss, cool-toned mid-range and not-red shades. 

Coming up this week: a new black-shadow face-off - will Makeup Geek's Corrupt out-black Blackout? 

No Post Today Because...

No post today because Comcast decided to really muck up my Business Class internet service. However, I have a post coming over the weekend on customer service I've received at various beauty retailers.

No, it's not lost on me that my customer service post was delayed by Comcast.

Nail of the Week: Pinta and Chloe

As I've mentioned before, I use almost entirely Zoya polish because it holds well for over a week and keeps my nails strong. In last week's madness, I didn't get a chance to shape or paint my nails which lead to some breakage. When that happens, I tend to cut them short and even and go for a glittery or dark (or both, in this case) color.

I had some trouble capturing the holographic glitter that is Chloe's main characteristic. I'm not seeing Chloe on Zoya's US website but I am seeing it on their Australian website (lucky Aussies!) Any pink-toned holographic flake nail polish should have the same general effect, I haven't found them to be all that different from one another and there are quite a few out there - Milani, Color Club, Chanel, and a lot of indie brands have all made holographic flake polishes.

Chloe here is layered over Pinta, which is a deep royal purple cream. The end effect is something like a speckled egg and works well as a transition-to-spring color, as well as a transition-to-fall color.

Here you can really see the base color of Pinta but the fleck isn't showing up that well.

And here you can see the fleck of Chloe but the base color isn't showing up that well. 

I find that I like darker colors better for shorter nails than bright colors but that is perhaps a product of remembering the '90s well and the admonitions to not wear black polish on long nails (which I do anyhow.) Do you keep your short nails bright, light, or dark? 

Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S101

I finally got my hands on some Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S101. At $90 a bottle, available from Sephora and Ellis Faas directly, I had some high hopes for this shade as I had been told that it was "paler than reasonable." In fact, Ellis Faas doesn't even keep samples of this shade available because they consider it too pale for common sampling.

I will say that the finish on this medium-coverage natural-finish foundation is astounding. It doesn't glow too much, it isn't too matte, it feels great on your skin. If you have a shade match in this foundation and don't cringe too much springing for a $90 foundation, I would highly recommend this one. It has the finish that so many other brands promise and truly delivers on a flawless face.

Unless, like me, the lightest shade looks like a yellow-orange mask on your face. As I have mentioned, winter light in Seattle isn't the best for photography, so  apologize in advance for the weird shadow on the face photo here. I wanted to take a better arm swatch photo but I also wanted it to match the previous ones so you could really compare them if you went back to my large swatch post of paler foundations, so this is taken in exactly those conditions.

From left to right: Jane Iredale Glow Time BB in BB1, Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S101, and NARS Sheer Matte in Siberia

As you can see, this is pretty close in shade to NARS Siberia. If Siberia is too yellow but not too dark for you, S101 might be your shade. 

Ellis Faas Skin Veil S101 (and MAC Huggable Lipstick in Rusty)

As you can see, like Siberia it's just a hair too dark on me, which is most unfortunate because the finish is astounding. The medium coverage here is not buildable, in my opinion, so if you need a full coverage foundation I'd look elsewhere.

This is a great foundation, alas just not my color. 

A Rumor and a Sale

My much-discussed pale foundation woes make me really hate to spread false hope on pale foundations but apparently Kat Von D is just as cranky about the Light 42 discontinuation as I am. She told someone on Instagram that she's pushing for them to bring it back. Here's a cap:

I'm not sure that it will actually happen - Sephora has already changed all of their displays but I'd be happy to see it come back just as an online-only option. There are so few options in that shade range that anything we can hold on to would be great! 

In case you haven't made Platinum yet, Ulta is doing their 21 Days of Beauty Steals starting on March 16th. You can actually see the deals in advance over at the 21 Days page on Ulta.com  To be honest, I'm not seeing a lot that appeals to me, personally, but I do see a lot of common favorite products. Stila's In the Know Palette on the 17th for $20, for instance. Other deals include a free Brow Bar wax with minimum purchase of $50, Urban Decay Primer Potion travel set, Tarte's Lights Camera Lashes, Smashbox products, and more. Take a look through the scheduled deals and set some calendar reminders so you don't miss them! 

More rumors about the Sephora Chic Week sale that's supposed to run from March 30th to April 11th - many stores are now scheduling appointments for a Rouge or VIB event on March 30th. My local store told me to watch my email for an online scheduling option but that they weren't taking appointments in person or by phone. Stores in other areas are doing appointments in person and by phone. Some stores are telling Rouge and VIB customers who inquire that they won't need an appointment for the event. Of course, there are those stores that are telling folks they don't know anything about an event. Standard Sephora disorganization, so call your store and check what's going on!

I attended Nordstrom's Spring Beauty Trend Event at one of my local Nordstrom stores and I've got to say, I had a disappointing experience. I have a response from the online Beauty Concierge, so I'm going to see where that goes before I provide a full report but know that some people are getting great service and some are walking out with nothing more than the worst, dated makeover of their lives. Yes, even worse than that Mary Kay consultant a friend dragged me to in the '90s. Yikes!

Palette Parade: Sugarpill Cold Chemistry

Hello! I'm sorry to have missed all of last week - things were a bit hectic and I'm not caught up enough to have posts queued in advance. I'm going to jump right back into this week with last week's Palette Parade check-in: Sugarpill Cold Chemistry. See my first post on the topic, Palette Parade, for guidelines and general information.

This week's palette was Sugarpill's Cold Chemistry.

At first glance, I was worried I wasn't going to get a lot of versatility out of this one and I have to admit, the first few days I was very heavy-handed with it it. This is a very pigmented set of shades - the lighter looks I did this week were a single tap of the brush to the shadow smoked out with a blending brush to create a lighter look. At this rate, I expect this palette to last approximately forever.

Definitely a keeper, this palette will create some very bold looks and some incredible smoky eye looks. I'm going to put my favorite two looks outside the jump and then the rest of the week behind the jump. 

This look was created using only Diamond Eyes (the white shade) and Soot and Stars (the glittery black shade.) One of my favorite daytime smoky eyes ever.

This heavy-handed purple look was early in the week and is only Diamond Eyes and Elemental Chaos.

Sunscreen vs Sunblock: How often? What's reef-safe? It expires?!

I went to high school in an era of tan-chic. I got a lot of general grief about living in a beach town and being very pale but I'll always be happy with the decision. When I was a preschooler, my mother's father had to have his entire ear removed because he developed a cancerous spot on it after a lifetime of sun exposure without protection. A few years later, when I was still in elementary school, my father had to have a growth removed from his arm. By the time I was a teenager, at a time that everyone was running for bottles of Sun-In and laying out with tips from popular teen and fashion magazines to get the perfect bronze, I was looking for wide-brimmed hats and lightweight long-sleeve clothes.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States with more than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people diagnosed annually. Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.

Let me assure you, sun protection has come a long way even in the last few years. There are more non-greasy, decent-smelling options than I used to dream of being available. We're coming up on most stores yearly sales on sun protection products and Sephora's annual Sun Protection kit. However, there's a million terms floating around and how do you know what's best for you? What's the difference between sunblock and sunscreen? What does SPF signify? How often should you be reapplying these? Reef-safe? "All-natural?" Wait, sunscreen and sunblock expire?!

This post has the possibility of getting lengthy, so grab an iced tea and settle in for a little sun-talk after the jump.

Nail of the Week: Zoya Kotori

This week's nail-of-the-week was determined by this week's forecast - Seattle's specific kind of light-sky, smoky-gray, light rain all week long. Some of my favorite weather! 

Zoya Kotori, 2 coats with 1 coat of Zoya's Armor

Kotori is, at two coats, semi-sheer blue glitter over a smoky gray base. At three coats it becomes mostly glitter, enough so that even with a single layer of top coat it feels slightly textured. This makes it really versatile because it can be transitional-season smoky or mid-summer blue glitter. Just the thing for a late February manicure.

Ellis Faas Milky Lips in L201 "Ellis Red"

Let me start off by saying I'm very picky about lipstick. I want it to either not smell at all or have a gentle or soft enough smell that I don't mind - soft mint sometimes works, vanilla is a safer bet. I want it to last most of the day, I don't like constantly fussing with my face when I'm out. I want the ingredients to be something I wouldn't mind terribly appearing in colored frosting for my kid's birthday cake. I want vibrant, versatile colors with nice pigmentation and easy application. I ask a lot from a lipstick. I want it to do all of that and generally be $20 or under - it's a tall order.

Ellis Faas had my attention because their Skin Veil foundation, while too dark for me, feels amazing on and lasts pretty well all day. I figured I'd try one of their lip products to see if they're worth the $35 price point - a Givenchy lipstick price point. The short of it? They're not.

Sleek packaging is great but you also need the color to be a reasonable approximation of the description (for this one, "blood red" - my blood isn't orange but maybe I'm doing it wrong.) It should also be able to last decently without transferring to everything in sight - this transferred to my hand, my phone, my face when my hair blew in the wind, my kid while we were shopping today, and every drinking vessel I came in contact with for the first few hours. As you might imagine, this meant that the lip... liquid? It's not really a stain if it doesn't last and it's not a lipstick. It's not a gloss, either. I have no idea what to call this stuff ... didn't last. It was a patchy mess an hour in and I sheered it out with my finger so that I didn't have to mss with reapplication and an hour later, that was a patchy mess again.

Here's a swatch on my arm:

Ellis Faas Milky Lips in L201 Ellis Red

On the left, as it applies.
On the right, what it looks like when you even out the application with the brush.

It's not what I'd call blood red once it's actually applied but it doesn't look terrible here, although the application is uneven by nature - you can't smooth this stuff out. Then I put it on and all of the orange tones came out to play:

Ellis Red on my face

Not what I wanted or expected from something described as "blood red." Worse, within ten minutes of taking this photo, I noticed feathering on the edges - even though I used a clear lip liner.

If you're looking for something that's more gloss than stain but it somewhere in between, this might be the thing for you. It had no discernable odor, which is great and rare in something gloss-adjacent. Beware the color descriptions - seek out swatches if at all possible.

This product is not vegan - it contains carmine. Have you noticed that the ingredients on higher-end products tend to not be as healthy or non-hydrogenated as some mid-range lines? The ingredients for this product:

Hydrogenated Polydecene, Isododecane, Hydrogenated Styrene/Isoprene Copolymer, Dicalcium Phosphate, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polyethylene, Propylene Carbonate, Octyldodecanol, Candelilla Cera, Prunus Domestica Seed Extract, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Silica, Tribehenin, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Sorbitan Isostearate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide. +/- May Contain: Mica, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77491/77492/77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 75470 (Carmine), Red 7, CI 15850 (Red 6/Red 7 Lake), CI 73360 (Red 30 Lake), CI 45410 (Red 28 Lake), CI 45380 (Red 22 Lake), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake), CI 15985 (Yellow 6 Lake)

Worse than all of that - at the end of the day, my lips feel like I've been standing in a wind storm. It's going to take some serious repair to make them feel soft and happy again and that's just with one wear!

For me, for the price, this just isn't worth it, sorry to say.

(I purchased this product for my own use. I think I've mentioned before that no one send me free stuff for blogging - all products so far are my own and nothing else. :) ) 

Ellis Faas website product listing - also available from Nordstrom and Sephora online. 

Rumored Sales

So, I don't have confirmation for either of these but I thought I'd mention that I've heard that Sephora's Chic Week this year will be March 31st to April 11th (two weeks, I know. I'm thinking VIB access on the first week, general Beauty Insider access the second week.) I've also heard rumor that Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty will start March 16th - I haven't heard anything about what exactly will be on sale.

There are a few upcoming collections I'm excited about.

First up, the one I have the least color information on, MAC's Maleficent collection, due to hit counters on May 15th.

I'm really hoping to see some vampy red lipsticks and maybe some contouring products. I'd also like to see some specialty packaging - MAC's been doing pretty well with that lately. I haven't seen any kind of color story for this yet but I'm kind of hoping for something close, but not the same as, 2013's Punk Couture collection.

Second, I'm excited to give Urban Decay's Naked Flushed a try again. I have some swatches up from the original palette but it's too dark and too orange for me but I liked the formula and the packaging. There's no release date for these but I'm really hoping that Native works out for me.

Of course, Urban Decay's Electric looks interesting but I'm a little leery of pressed pigments in general. I'm reserving judgment until I can see them in person but I was certainly more excited about them when I thought they were going to be eyeshadows. I've also seen a few possible photos of the palette on forums and I'm not impressed with the potential packaging - who really needs another bulky palette to try and store?

If you're on a budget or a no-buy, hopefully some upcoming sales and releases will help you hold strong - there's great stuff in the future!

Palette Parade

Eyeshadow palettes. They seem to be taking over the world. I remember when quads were a big deal because you got "so much" product in one package. Now it seems like everybody has six, eight, and twelve shades locked away in magnetic, zippered, and clasp enclosures. I've found it to be a rare person that has just one palette.

However, it seem we all have that one palette we use more than the others and turn to on our laziest days because we know we can use it in our sleep. Then there are those palettes that you bought because the shadows were buttery, the pigmentation was great, and you were sure you'd love the colors - and they are collecting dust in the bottom of a drawer or traincase. Maybe you're just not sure how to use the shadows, maybe you bought the palette hoping to branch out a little, or maybe you just auto-pilot in the morning because the coffee hasn't quite hit yet when you put on your makeup.

Sephora forum user bombshell30 decided to do something about that.

There are no hard rules but the basic guidelines are:

• Put your palettes in an order - you choose how to do this, one person used a number generator, I alternated bright palettes with neutral palettes
• Use your palette five days in a row (most of us have been doing Monday to Friday for simplicity) - two days a week are "free" days. It was also decided that holidays, birthdays, and special events could be exempt or "free" days.
• If you decide to get rid of a palette (return it to the store, trade it away, or toss it,) you can either take a free week for the rest of the week or move on to the next palette
• You can use singles with your palette but no other palettes (remember, we're trying to use each palette, so this rule is to prevent you from using your go-to and just accenting with a shade from the parade palette.) 
• Continue until you've used all of the palettes in your collection

After the jump: my palettes for parading, some rules modifications, and my progress so far. 

Undertones?

Ask for beauty advice just about anywhere and someone will ask you, "what are your undertones?" If you shrug and say you don't know? They're going to look at you like you forgot your birthday. Like you misplaced the card we're all secretly handed at puberty that tells you how to suavely get dates and what the difference between white and black tie is that had your undertones marked down on it.

What, you didn't get one of those? Me either. 

So, then comes the parade of advice on how to pick your undertones:
The color of your veins (check your arms, folks:) blue means cool, green means warm (red means see a doctor)
Jewelry: like silver you may be cool, like gold you may be warm
Clothing: look good in blue? Cool, they say! Pink or orange? Warm it is!
White-test: Put on a pure white shirt (or hold up paper under your face) - yellow and sick-looking? Warm! Just fine? Cool!

Now, the next two "tests" lead to mis-matched undertones all the time, because they assume that dark=warm and pale=pink and everyone in between is cool. I know some un-cool people in that middle range and I'm not just talking social skills. These tests have lead to a lot of people telling me I must be warm because blah blah blah: Tan easily? Have certain hair or eye colors? Then they stick you in a category.

What happens when you're a blue-green veined pale person with no pink who likes silver, looks good in blue, looks terrible in a white t-shirt, burns easily, has a naturally dishwater shade of hair, and gray eyes? Oh, you're neutral. Huh, no one seems to mention that during these infuriating tests. I've had counter representatives refuse to match me to a non-pink shade of foundation because "all pale people are pink!" No, no we aren't.

Then you'll get advice on what kind of colors you "should" be wearing.

Funny thing, I look best in red, purple, and blue.

In green, yellow, and orange I look like I need a vacation or a doctor.

Here's the thing - you can wear any color you want to. The place that undertones are going to make the biggest difference is in foundation. There's an additional wrinkle here, many companies will say a foundation is "for" someone with cool undertones when what they mean is that it "corrects" cool undertones. That's not cool at all. Knowing that you're cool undertoned, though, means that you can usually skip foundations that all have yellow undertones or if you're warm you know that you can skip the ones that all have a reference to pink in the name. You'll know what that online foundation-finder means when it says "cool-undertones; medium shade."

Another place it's going to make a difference is picking a great shade of red lipstick - blue-reds (those touted as "universal" - you'll learn I dislike anything being proclaimed as "universal," you're undoubtedly making someone feel like a mutant for not fitting the shade) are going to look best on cool undertoned folks, orange-reds and corals are going to look best on warm undertoned folks, and us lucky neutral-toned folks are going to have a hit-and-miss toss up of which works best. (I think this is where the "universal" comes in, as many neutral-toned people do better with cool-toned color cosmetics or at least like them better.)

In short, no you didn't miss that day at school and half of the people who think they've got it figured out have no idea, either. It doesn't make a huge difference but it might make finding a foundation easier if you can figure it out and it'll be one more thing you can stick in the introductory sentence to your request for assistance that lets you skip to the answers that you want. :)

Not a Polish Blogger, Clearly

Clearly, I'm not a polish blogger. You'll see in a second that my polish application skills are mediocre, at best, and my hands are not really what you'd call dainty or photogenic. (I have big hands, okay?)

However! I see a question asked so frequently and feel a duty to answer it to the world and internet:

What's the longest lasting polish you've used?

For me the answer, hands down, is Zoya. I use the full color-lock system: Remove+, Anchor, Polish, Armor, and Hurry Up. I even have a bottle of Renew in my cabinet. (Is anyone interested in "what's in my collection" photos?) 

For example: Here's a manicure I did last week, late Wednesday (the 12th) night while I watched the Amell brothers sulk up the CW: 

Zoya's Dakota - two coats and a single layer of top coat

Yes, I'm holding the polish bottle. My hands were not made for those dainty poses.

Here's that same manicure, no fussing, no fixing, no daily top-coating (do people have time for that?) to protect the polish after a week (photo taken in the wee hours of the 20th) chasing my sick preschooler, doing dishes with the steaming hot water from my sink (no gloves - I've never seen a latex-free dish glove,) washing my hands and face a lot, typing, and generally not being dainty. 

Hey you can actually see my nail growth.

Here's another view: 

The best part of this? The only thing I need to keep these weekly manicures looking this way is a cuticle pusher (but I don't use oil or anything - the Remove+ actually is pretty nice to my cuticles. I lotion my hands after I wash them when they're dry,) nail clippers, and a four-sided buffing block. No fussing with cuticle removers or softeners, no nail hardening routine (and mine were paper-thin and prone to splitting before I started using Zoya polishes,) no fancy routine. Just remove, shape, polish, and go. The quick-dry drops make it so that I can get back to typing and touching stuff within about fifteen minutes (I'm clumsy, so I give myself some extra time) and I can go to bed without sheet marks in about an hour. 

The usual suspects. 

Don't worry, I refill that Remove+ from a giant salon-sized bottle I keep under a cabinet.

Here's the bonus round: these are vegan. They're five-free (that means no: toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, DBP (phthalates) and camphor.) They don't smell horrendous and the remover doesn't make me want to pick my brain out with a fork (fumes, man, fumes.) That remover? I'm pretty sure it could take paint off of a car and leave it buffed afterwards - it removes glitter polish in one go but leaves my hands soft and nails refreshed. They usually have a gift-with-purchase or coupon - follow their blog, Zoya Blog, and you'll always know what's coming. You can pick the polishes up at some salons, Ulta stores (but not online,) and Zoya's own website (my preference.)

Have I used other polishes? Boy, have I. I've tried tricks, tips, gone to salons, bought Butter London, Julep, OPI, China Glaze, NARS, Chanel, Seche Vite, Essie, Sally Hansen, RGB, OCC, Deborah Lippman, and I even recently tried Sephora's Formula X. Nothing lasts like Zoya; long live Zoya!